The Shadowbender
by Kurogane7
Summary: Intended as a side story, a spy is sent to watch Azula, finding love along the way. My fanfiction collaboration with Wildnature03 on deviantART. There are gaps in the story, and thus you should look for Wildnature03 to read the other parts of the story.
1. Shaman

The sound of the wind flying through the trees could be clearly heard through the Earth Kingdom farming village. This village had been rumored to be the one where exiled prince Zuko had crossed through, and dispatched of some bullying earthbender soldiers. "Is it true what I've heard?" asked a stranger at the bar, "that Prince Zuko has been here?" "Yeah, it's true," said the bartender, "the nerve of him. How naïve does he think we are? He may have saved that kid Li, but doesn't change the fact that he is a firebender. Nowadays, we treat strangers with a skeptical eye. Speaking of which, what is your job sir?"  
The stranger wore a basket over his entire head. On it, where the eyes would be was a long and eye-thick slit with eight square holes in the area where the mouth would be. He also wore a loose-fitting cotton jacket without a shirt and baggy pants all of a different shade of blue. Around his neck was a long rosary, and carried in his arm was a long ringed staff. Next to the teakettle was a brown-lacquered bamboo flute with a wide end. He was drinking tea with the basket raised enough over his head to show his mouth. "I'm just a simple traveling musician," he said, "scrapping up enough of a living to survive through the relaxing sounds of my flute." "Then what's with the necklace and staff?" asked the bartender, "You're not in league with the Fire Nation are you?"  
The stranger sounded as though he took it as an offense, after finishing his tea and lowering the basket, "Heavens no. However, a philosopher hermit raised me in the mountain ranges outside the Fire Nation—he taught me well about the evils of the Fire Nation propaganda, Air Bender philosophy, and he taught me about everything that the Fire Nation had done to make everyone hate them. My master had recently died, but before he left, he told me to go see the world before I die. I carry the flute to help me in my meditations and to earn money, and the staff is to let everyone know I'm around and to warn all small critters that I might squash them. He told me to carry both when I'm traveling so that I can continue with what he learned; he also reminded me of the important rule of his teachings—to seek enlightenment while I travel, and to never kill."  
"Is that so?" asked an Earth Kingdom soldier, happening to listen in on the conversation, "Well it doesn't matter to me if you're born a thousand miles away from the Fire Nation, you're still a Fire Nation man…" "And we aim to make trouble for anyone who comes from the firebenders," chimed in another soldier, "even if it were a wimpy little bum musician such as yourself!" "What we're going to do is going to hurt," said a third soldier, "and it's especially going to hurt bad for you, for being a Fire Man!"  
All in all, judging by the sound of laughter, there was the sound of almost ten men standing around, laughing like fools. Perhaps dealing with the leader and his right and left-hand men may convince the others to leave him be. Before anything else could be done, the stranger arrested a fist coming at his face with an outwards circular motion with his right hand, grabbed the soldier by his wrist, pulled him in towards him, and gave him an elbow straight to the nose, sending him screaming to the floor. A hammer came falling down on his head, but he immediately took out his staff, jabbed the soldier carrying the hammer on his instep, following through by raising the staff so as to nail him in the chin, and then he swung the staff such that the soldier was knocked down after the impact from behind his neck. The leader finally had the gall to attack, picked up his axe, and brought it down, only to see that the staff was not simply a staff, but it was a highly tempered longsword hidden in a ringed staff as the stranger used the blade to block the sword, smoothly transition in midair by turning a full 180-degrees around, push the axe back to slice it in half in just one motion, and to kick the leader back. Once he recovered, the leader stamped on the ground, causing rocks to levitate into the air, followed through with a plethora of kicks and slaps on the rocks, sending them shooting towards the stranger, whose response was to block the incoming rocks with the stool next to him, run towards his opponent with his staff/sword, and then follow through with a diagonal upwards slash from the left. He then resheathed the sword as the leader of the bullying soldiers fell to the floor.  
"You made me exert myself," said the stranger, "I think that you know by now that I don't like to exert myself. I also want you to know that I missed your vitals, so you lucked out. My advice to you here is to stop bullying the people, learn to be more pious, and just plain be better people." As he turned to the bartender, the Earth Kingdom soldiers all ran out of the bar as the stranger walked towards him, pulled out a heavy velvety bag from his sleeve, and emptied half its contents of gold onto the counter with a loud jingle. "That's for lunch, and a gourd of rice wine."  
"You hitting the road again? Why don't you borrow an ostrich-horse?"  
"Part of what I'm taught is that unless it is an emergency, I will walk all the way to my destination. And my destination will be determined by fate."  
"If you ask me, and pardon if I'm offending you, but I think your master was a crazy old coot. He had some wise words, but he seems to be nothing but an old coot in the last of his hours."  
"Well, you can't blame an old philosopher. That's his beliefs, and I believe in him. He has, after all, been a father to me all these years. Well, it's time for me to go, I'll just take my gourd, and I'll be on my way."  
The bartender took out a gourd, and tossed it at the stranger who caught it instantly, "Take care now."  
"Same to you." At that, the stranger simply turned, and left the bar. Once he passed through the threshold, he could see people walking up and down the streets of the town, performing various tasks. Everyone seemed to stare at him suspiciously, whispering behind his back. As he walked down the street, he didn't care; he tied the gourd to his side, pulled back his staff, and began to play on his flute with a calming and relaxing tone. The soothing sounds of the flute seemed to relax everyone from their suspicion of him, letting their guards down only by a tiny margin. However, the relaxing atmosphere of the flute music began to die down as the sight of a young boy had been found limping in an alley with cuts and burns towards the well. Upon inspecting the damage, the stranger assessed that the boy had suffered multiple lacerations and burns all over his body, no doubt the work of Fire Nation arrows and firebenders. And judging by how quick his hands were twitching, he was asked to raid a camp for food and supplies for soldiers.  
"Relax," called the stranger, pulling out a knife, "this may hurt though." At that the stranger lifted the basket so that his mouth was revealed, and he began to breathe fire upon the blade of the knife. Once the blade was red-hot, he let go of the basket, and used the knife to cauterize the wounds with the face of the blade; the boy screamed in pain as he was burned, and started getting angry at him at learning that he was a firebender, but they stayed quiet as he was the only doctor around. The stranger then turned around, and moved his arms in a circular motion to create a sphere of water from the well behind him, and then he moved it over the burn marks all over the boy's body, healing him of all burns. The boy was amazed at this…could this man be? No, that's impossible…but can he be the Avatar?  
"I'd appreciate it if you did not said a word about this," whispered the stranger, turning to leave, "if anybody asks, tell them they were dreaming, or better yet, tell them someone gave you a speedy ointment. See you." After that, the man continued playing his flute from the last note. The whole community seems like just another place to really consider a home—providing of course that the bad eggs are taken out of the frying pan. Nearing the edge of the town, the stranger looked back at the town from the hilltop before leaving it completely.  
Walking on, he eventually came across a river, and surely enough, he heard the sound of a guzheng zither playing. Walking on down the bank of the river, the stranger found a woman in the same-colored clothing as his, and a basket over her head playing the man-sized, rectangular zither on her lap with expert proficiency. He then began to play a note to complement the smooth playing sounds of the zither, weaving a tale of a prince's never-ending quest to find what's missing in his life. As soon as the song concluded, both musicians set their hands at rest as the flute player dropped his hands, and sat next to the zither player.  
"Nice weather today isn't it?" asked the flute player, "Indeed it is Guan," said the zither player, "it's very lovely. How long has it been since the two of us spoke casually like this?"  
Guan simply gave a long sigh, and said, "I'd say about a year, give or take Rin. I take it the inner circle has a mission for me?"  
At that, Rin simply nodded her head, and answered, "Your talent of traversing within the shadows are once again required within the Shadowbenders. You're doing mole duty this time—the target is the daughter of Fire Lord Ozai, Princess Azula. She's over in Ba Sing Se, basically basking in the glory of taking the city over before she begins to really hunt for the Avatar. You're to keep an eye on her, reporting on anything she does that seems to be of significance until further notice. I'll send messages to the inner circle for you by pigeon, and if you're going to be sending those messages to me first without arousing suspicion, please don't use rats again, you know how much I hate them—mice, gerbils, and even rabbits are okay, but no rats or bats. Anyway, you know the goal of this mission, and it is simple; make sure you report on any significant changes to us on anything Azula does, and when the time comes, we'll give you your next assignment, are we clear?"  
Guan nodded, "Yes ma'am, you are after all my closest contact to them in this organization of shamans, so I'll do as you say. But while I'm doing this, you may want to hang on to my shakujo. I don't want to be made-out easily." Once said, Guan got up, gave Rin his ringed staff, and started towards the road, watching in the direction he had come from…

The shaman is a bender who can master two kinds of bending at the same time; they are not Avatars, who can master all four of the bending arts, but they come quite close to them. It is not easy to find shamans because they are rare—in order to have a shaman, you must have two benders, each specializing in a different bending art giving birth to one. In short, a shaman is determined by what kind of bending their parents can perform. Shamans are normally frowned upon as freaks, but there are some people who are more acceptable of them because of their talents.  
The Shadowbenders are a secret group of itinerant shamans who make their living by playing music. During the day, they are mendicant musicians who typically wear blue clothing and a basket over their head covering their faces, and during the night, they fight corrupt governments wherever they see it. The Shadowbenders frown upon vanity, and so they make all members wear the baskets when disguised as civilians. They also frown upon killing and thievery, particularly that which is unnecessary. All its members are taught to contemplate upon the saying that all is nothing and nothing is all, that in this world their musical instruments are their life, and to seek enlightenment through meditation in their music playing.  
They were established when a group of shamans broke off from the airbenders into mendicancy in order to preach to the crowd outside the temple. As the years had passed, they had moved out of being monks and evolved into a guild of musical preachers, preaching the word of the airbenders and telling stories and parables through their musicians, gaining many followers in secret. However, when the Fire Nation sacked the airbender temple nearly 100 years ago, there was a rise in their activities against corruption from the shadows, this includes inciting riots, financing rebellions in secret, and even assassinating high-ranking Fire Nation commanders. And despite all that fame they received, they allow nobody to breathe a word of the existence of the guild.

He had done it! Guan had thrown his flute at the back of a passing ostrich-horse rider's neck, stunning him off his steed, and causing the creature to stop immediately. "Okay Guan, now I'm surprised," said Rin, "of all the commandeering I've seen you do, this is by far the crudest you can get. But then again, you're in a rush, and finesse in this area is not your area—besides, that was an effective tactic, so there's no complaint to it, despite the messiness." "Will you please be quiet?" said Guan, writing a 'sorry' note, and tying it with today's donations for playing the flute in his victim's bag, "I don't feel good about it either."  
Once he finished writing, Guan had mounted the ostrich-horse, and rode away. "Good luck Guan," Rin said to herself, "I'll be waiting for your message." At that, she went to her zither, picked it up by its strap, and waited by the road…

Three days later…

The city of Ba Sing Se hustled and bustled with life. Despite the appearance of Fire Nation soldiers to make the laws even stricter, life went on as normal. The only thing that made the place any more interesting was the appearance of scholars coming all this way from the Fire Nation to get to the exam here, and become an official here. Azula is looking for someone to be her head court official, and so this is to see who is willing to take on the job.  
At the lines to the exam, the scholars awaited the chance to take the test to see who would become the head eunuch. As Guan had observed the scholars coming toward him, he immediately had an idea…he picked up a scroll from nearby, opened it, and looked at it to make sure it was a good tool, and then he moved through an alley towards the back of the short line. "Psst!" he called out to the scholar in the back of the line, waving the scroll around, "come here, I've got something for you…" Interested, the scholar left the line, and moved closer into the alley, only to get conked on the head with the scroll.  
After that, Guan quickly dragged him further out of sight into the alley, and then he stripped the scholar of all his clothes, and then changing into them. Upon taking the basket off his head, he revealed his true face: like the rest of his body, his skin was tan from exposure to the sun, and his face was masculine, yet with hints of femininity showing, making him quite handsome, mixed in with the fact that his eyes were of a grayish-green. He then picked up the scholar's backpack, and stuffed his clothes inside, and his basket hung outside the bag. Upon finishing his disguise, Guan took out the scroll he purchased, and tossed it to the scholar, whispering to him, "Here's your porno, now let me borrow your clothes, and take a nice, long nap."

The line was long, and the exam was exhausting, but it was worth it…now he has entered the gardens for his results. Looking upon the scenery, it was a beautiful garden made up of rock-and-sand gardens, along with fruit blossoms. Taking in the scenery made him remember how precious life can be, and why his master wanted for him to travel the world. Now he can see why—it would be wrong to cage someone in the confines of a mountain cave, and not have them see such beauty in the world, even if it will eventually wither down into nothingness later, it is still worth it to see such sights. "All right!" called the proctor, "The results are in. The big winner for being the court official is none other than Guan Liu Zhang! Will the graduate please come with me to the throne room? The rest of you will have your scores posted up on this column next to me…those of you who scored over 80% will become lower-class officials, and anyone under 50%, don't even bother to take the test again, you'll only fail it."  
Upon hearing this, Guan was relieved; now he can get to work on his mission. It also reaffirmed him that he was no dolt, and so he thanked his master for the good education as he entered the palace again from the west-door garden. He had to go up and downstairs, but he finally made it…at the doors to the throne room. "Now remember," whispered the proctor, "when you see the princess up close, you must bow, if she bows, bow lower, and no profane language. If your actions reveal you to be an assassin, we will shoot you on sight. Are we clear?" "Crystal," said Guan, watching the doors open slowly.  
The throne room was a long hall with walls inlaid with gold and jade to give it a runic appearance. Even the throne shared the design and composition of the room. On it sat a girl fairly close to her mid-teens; her appearance obviously identified her as a Fire Nation noble, and the aura about her gave one a sense of cruel majesty. She was Princess Azula of the Fire Nation, and upon being within two steps of the throne, both Guan and the proctor got on their knees and bowed.  
"Your majesty," said the proctor, "this is the scholar who passed with flying colors. Your new official, Guan Liu Zhang of the northern mountain ranges of the mainland." "Rise," said Azula, and Guan did as he was told. As she looked at him, she inspected his physical appearance with her yellow eyes.  
"You don't seem to be a Fire Nation man," she said, after finally inspecting him, "your skin and your eyes are what gave you away, so where are you really from?" "I was raised by a hermit outside the mainland," said Guan, showing calluses from holding a rake and a number of other farming tools, "I started off a peasant farmer, but worked on the side and saved my way up to get an education in politics. My master on the other hand, taught me literature and philosophy, both of which are also my survival knives." With a skeptical look in her eyes, Azula reluctantly sighed, and said, "Very well then…you can be a court official. Also know that if there's any word of treachery on your behalf, you'll be cut down faster than you can scream. Is that understood?"  
"Clearly."  
"Then go away. I don't need you now, so you can do what you like—turn in for the night even. I don't care."  
Guan bowed low, and got up, then turned around to leave the room when someone dropped from the ceiling right in front of him, landing in a crouch. As soon as she got back up, she was looking into his eyes with her violet eyes; her hair was black, and her physique stated that she was a firebender peasant in her late-mid-teens, she had four ponytails tied on the back of her head, she wore a red vest with golden trim, black pants and sash, as well as golden earrings. Her ankles were bandaged, and she wore a pair of sandals. Both exchanged looks of clear interest, as though someone batted them both simultaneously over the head with earthbender hammers. "Oh my, where are my manners?" asked Azula, "Kai, this is Guan, the new court official. Guan, this is Kai, my personal spy and thief."  
"Pleased to meet you miss," said Guan, feeling very awkward, "Same here," said Kai in the same amount of distraction.  
"Well, I'm very tired now, I'll be seeing the princess early tomorrow."  
"I'm sure you will…"

In the official's living quarters…

Guan was not certain of what had just transpired. In his nineteen years of life, he had met many women in his occasional travels with his master, but he had never felt this way about a woman, especially a girl younger than he is. Ah well, time to send his first message to Rin before she gets worried. Looking around the room for animals, he immediately caught a white mouse sleeping on his bed. This would be his first familiar in this mission…once he got close to the bed, the mouse awoke, and looked up to see why there was so much noise. Guan immediately stared back into the mouse's eyes, calming it down, and then making it crawl up his pant leg, up to his shoulder, and lick him on the neck—an easy hypnotism indeed.  
Once he had finished making the mouse his familiar, he immediately went to the table, and scribbled a note on a small scroll that read: "I am now a court official, wait for me while I lay low for a while." Once done, he wrapped up the scroll, tied it to the foreleg of the mouse, and put the mouse in front of the mouse hole, whispering quietly; "Somewhere outside in the town, you'll find a woman playing a large stringed instrument with a basket over her head, carrying my staff with rings on it. Deliver the message to her…and if she gets angry, give her the cutie-pie eyes. Be careful, don't be seen, and don't be eaten. If you do that, I'll reward you with food." At that, the mouse immediately ran into the hole to accomplish its mission. Once the mouse had gone, he pulled his flute out of his sleeve and began to play a relaxing number on it…


	2. Concealment

It's been almost two weeks, and there especially did not seem to be any progress at all for today. As Guan sat around next to Azula, in the throne room listening to her new ministers discussing problems within Ba Sing Se with her, she did not seem to be listening, only yawning. This was not kosher at all…she did not seem to be doing much at all except yawn and bawl at her subordinates for screwing something up. She is keeping everyone in the dark, but if that's the case, then he'll have to resort to desperate measures. Making sure nobody was looking, he changed into the midnight garb of a spy and a full-face horned demon mask with a small hole in the open mouth, readying his knife in its bicep-mounted holster for safety's sake, and jumped out the window onto the balcony, swinging his way up to the rooftops of the palace.  
Once he climbed up the tiled rooftops of the castle, he finally found what he was looking for; there was a window with an ornate balcony—obviously Azula's room now. Looking into the green and gold-patterned room, he could see that the room was immediately empty…Azula was not even present. With that on mind, he immediately snuck through the room, and then out the door, taking care to keep an eye over the corners. He continued to sneak until he began to overhear something in the war room… "This does not seem to be a good course of action," said a male voice, "we don't know where the Avatar is going to go, but it's likely that he's going to locate a firebending teacher soon, so he'll probably try to go to the Fire Nation to find one who'll support his cause." Upon hearing this, Azula's voice had followed through with a laugh as she said, "Don't make me laugh! That's very unlikely that he'll find one. Although we can't rule out the possibility that Zu-zu may have a change of heart and help him. Send word to our spies in the mainland Fire Nation to keep a good eye over him, make sure he doesn't do anything to suggest that he wants to help the Avatar, and if he does, kill him."  
"Your own brother? I'm so surprised! But then again, that's what I've always liked about you…cruel, heartless, and most of all, merciless! But what about the Avatar?"  
"As of tomorrow morning, we're going to find him…and we're not letting a little rat escape to tell him, are we girls?"  
"No ma'am," said a voice behind him, "it just wouldn't be fair now would it Mai?" Looking behind him, Guan saw Kai along with two girls: the energetic one dressed in the garb of an acrobat was the speaker, Ty Lee, the other in a Fire Nation noble's garb with a kind of bob cut and a bored look on her face was Mai. "And what do we do with rats Kai?" asked Mai with a triumphant smile upon her face, "Kill him and feed him to the cats," said Kai, with an indifferent look on her face, "but before that, we unmask him, what do you say?"  
Once Kai finished her sentence, Guan immediately jumped to the column across from him, landed his feet on it, and then he kicked off downwards in a 30-degree angle, rolling on the ground to get back up on his feet only to see a wall of Fire Nation Soldiers blocking his way with spears and swords pointed in his direction. Looking back, he saw the trio moving in. Kai jumped on in, performing a downwards drop kick to his head with blue fire engulfing her foot, only to watch as he simply moved aside, grabbed and pulled her by the leg by the knee with his left hand while transitioning into the half-bow stance (feet are apart, one leg is straight and outstretched behind the body, the other is bent forward), and using the momentum of the drop against her, Guan delivered an inwards hand chop to the side of her neck, scoring a TKO with that inwards motion using his right hand. Ty Lee moved from under Kai to deliver a Dim Mak (acupressure kung fu) strike to his Adam's apple, only to be dodged, dodging a backwards leg sweep herself, and finally having Kai's body thrown at her in midair, knocking her to the table. Mai took advantage of the situation, and started throwing her fletched stilettos at the target, only to watch as the target sent a torrent of blue flame in her direction from the mouth of his mask, and mess up her aim as she covered her face. After that, when she put down her arms, she saw the target jump up, and TKO her with an inwards chop to her neck with his left hand. After that, the spy caught her in midair, and landed as light as a feather on the toe of his shoe.  
Once he put Mai down, Guan jumped aside from a lightning bolt aimed for his head and land in a left-handed handstand while he reached into his shirt with his right hand, pulling out something black, spun around with his legs to dodge six blue fire shots aimed at his torso, getting up to run to the guards, threw it to the ground once he made it within three feet of them causing a flash to go off in front of them, blinding everyone in the war room. As soon as the pain in everyone's eyes had subsided, they saw that the spy had disappeared…

That was close…too close! If Guan were to send a message now, that would risk compromising himself, so he immediately swung his way back into the room, quickly took off his spy outfit, including the mask, immediately stuffed it into the backpack, put on his pajamas, and went to the bed. He'll have to send the message tomorrow morning if he is to avoid detection. But for now, he'll need an alibi, and being here all this time would count as an alibi. Especially since he hears guards running around the palace outside his room, sayings such things in anger and triumph as "Darn it! He got away!" "Ha! Coward!" and even "Wimp!" This will be a bit harder. He'll need to get that message ready, so he went to the table, pulled out a mini-scroll, and began to write:

"The indecisive white dragon, oh great heavens keep thy eyes upon,  
For the black dragon shall keep hers upon him should he turn from the forces of evil from dusk till dawn.  
The black dragon begins her search for the world's treasure at daybreak, but for the gods, this meek mortal shall continue undetected to watch,  
Even if this task is difficult, and easy to botch."

This note should be easy for the organization to decode. When the Shadowbenders send secret messages to each other, they always code their messages in poems. Whatever poem they send has to be in context with the mission at hand, disguised in artistic words. This particular poem, disguised as one of loyalty and duty towards the heavens, sent a message to the inner circle meaning, "Guard Prince Zuko; Azula will keep an eye on him in case he decides to side with the Avatar, and so must you. Tomorrow, she'll be moving out to search for the Avatar. Tonight, I've almost been captured and revealed for this information, but I'll keep watching her from the shadows…expect my next message when I hear more."  
With that, he went to bed with the scroll rolled up and in his forearm-mounted knife holster on his right bicep, and ready to be sent by the white mouse to Rin tomorrow morning.

The next morning…

Guan sat around in the garden on the fountain, taking care to make sure that nobody was around. With that comfort on mind, he released the little white mouse into the garden, whispering, "The usual person, do your job well, and I will find you the freshest grape possible. But you'd best hope not to get caught…I've bound a cat to my will this time to follow you should things go wrong. It's dangerous here, so forgive me, but if you are captured, the cat will come and eat you note and all if, and only if, that should happen. Be careful, I really don't want you to be eaten, but that note has to be delivered, or not be delivered at all. Godspeed." With that, the mouse skittered off into the crack in the wall.  
Watching the mouse run away, Guan took out his bamboo flute, and began to play a slow melody on it. Its notes resembled that of the wind passing through a willow tree, watching as the leaves rustled by with the whistling. "It's beautiful," asked a voice from behind, and looking towards the direction of the voice, it was Kai who continued to say, "Where'd you learn to play like that?" "My master taught me lots of things," he said, "he taught me music to get a sense of art with philosophical value—aestheticism. With the flute, I managed to get in tune with that very bit of aestheticism. By the way, you're not looking well, are you all right? I heard from the maid that there was a break-in."  
"Yeah, some kind of a spy was listening in on the Princess' conversations with Long Feng, the backstabber. By the looks of it, he's extremely skilled at getting away. Mai, Ty Lee, and myself all scared him off!"  
"I also heard whispered gossip from the Fire Nation guards that the three trusted hands of Princess Azula have been taken down by a lone spy…apparently, the same guy responsible for the break-in from the maid's story, that can't have been true can it? Surely you've been able to take him down?"  
Kai laughed with a tinge of embarrassment in her voice, "Actually, I kind of found out too late that he was a skilled fighter…"  
"I see …no wonder I see a bandage on your neck. Still, it must've been tough. So aside from the bandaged neck, how have things been lately?"  
"Nothing new…just the birds chirping, and the flute playing. Maybe you can play a note or two for the princess…I heard that she likes music."  
"I doubt that. She seems more bored than ever these days. I wonder if she even really cares about taking the throne to be honest with you. Lately, she's mostly interested in basking."  
Kai sighed, and said, "Yeah, I hear you. Well, today we're going to search for the Avatar on our own, we think he's going to make a stop at the mainland Fire Nation, but we're going to be tracking down the clues left behind as to where he's actually going. Hey, maybe you can come with us."  
Guan looked at her in surprise. "Me? Really? But I'm a court official, my place is here—while the princess is away, don't I have to manage things around here? And besides, I don't like Long Feng—I wouldn't want to be the miserable person under his leadership. Who knows what's going to happen when he totally takes power?"  
"I get your point, but the princess may be in need of your talent with that flute of yours. She hasn't been getting much sleep lately…it's actually not good for her. Plus the sounds of your flute may cool down her anger when she's mad. That's why I'm asking you to come with, so we can have some music when looking for the Avatar."  
"Well, if you insist, then I'll come with. What do you have on mind?"  
"Every time we camp out, you'll be playing music for us. That ought to help her to sleep more often. We're leaving at noon, so get your stuff ready, we're traveling by ostrich-horse."  
"See you at the stables then…"  
What a good turn of events! Now he can finally get into her mind. Although it would be rude to leave Rin in the dark…he'll send a message to her tonight, although she probably won't like how he'll send it, especially with the appearance of certain brown triangles hanging from the nearby fruit trees. The sound of tripping could easily be heard behind him as he immediately caught Kai by the cleavage, pushed her backwards quickly, and caught her back with one hand. As she looked up at Guan, she looked up at him in surprise. "Sorry about that," he said, standing her back up, looking embarrassed, "my master made me hunt for food once in a while, especially during famines—I still can't cut down on those reflexes…it's an impulse you know?" "And what's this I hear about once in a while?" asked Kai.  
"My master taught me to always respect nature, because when I respect nature, nature respects me. We only hunted once in a while when we needed meat, but every time we killed an animal for food or clothing, we always prayed for forgiveness from the creature—we apologize to it for killing it."  
"What is there to apologize? It's just an animal, not to mention one that you are eating. But then again, I suppose you're right, about respecting nature. I was raised somewhere in the mainland Fire Nation by big cats, I still have a good deal of respect for them because they were my family when nobody else was there for me. Then I grew up stealing for this clan of thieves…eventually realizing it was wrong. Ironic though, I wanted to get out of stealing, and I was hired for stealing. Anyway, I'll see you at the stables then, make sure you pack your travel gear, and bring your flute." Upon saying that, Kai immediately left, skipping away happily.  
Watching as Kai left, Guan immediately walked quietly towards the triangles hanging under the branches under the trees. He then started to play a mesmerizing tune on the flute, revealing the triangles to be fruit bats that just opened their wings. Taking care to make sure nobody is watching, he immediately took out a small scroll, and a small, sharpened piece of graphite, and scribbled a note onto it that read, "The lowly peasant leaves the house in search of treasure under the leadership of the black dragon. Follow along—I'll need your pigeons. P.S. sorry for sending bats, they were the only things available at the moment."  
After finishing his note, Guan rolled up the scroll, tied it to the leg of a bat, whispering as he got the bat by the leg, "You'll find a lady with a basket on her head and wearing blue somewhere in the city. Make sure this note gets to her without suspicion, do that, and I'll reward you with the tastiest fruits possible." At that, he sent the bat flying in broad daylight, leaving to change…

Guan had arrived at the stables, with Kai, Ty Lee, Mai, and Azula waiting for him on ostrich-horses already. "Are you ready to go yet?" asked Mai, "And willing," he said, mounting his ostrich-horse, "where are we headed?" "Northwest," said Princess Azula, "we're headed towards Fire Nation territory. We've just received word that the Avatar was seen in a village northwest of here. He's still wounded from the last time I shot him, no less. Anyway, we're headed there to verify the information, and then move on to pursue him. Let's hope Zu-zu doesn't have his change of heart…"  
Guan simply lied behind his teeth through a smile, as he actually thought, 'Foolish girl, we're already prepared for whatever you'll throw at him…since that's the case, let's hope he gets his change of heart. The Fire Nation will be put back in its place soon enough…" That said, everybody rode out to the northwest.


	3. Mission

The campfires were dimming out, and everyone was surely asleep. Guan was given the night watch, to make sure nobody would attack. Looking left and right, he finally found something interesting…a brown owl flew out of nowhere, dropped a note from its beak, and flew away. He immediately caught the scroll, the note read:

"I want a word with you in the forests, make sure you're not being followed, and be sure to follow the sound of the guzheng."

With that order on mind, he immediately used firebending to torch the note, tossed it with some firewood into the campfire, and then taking care to ensure nobody was watching, he got up, and turned to leave. "Going somewhere?" asked Azula, not bothering to turn her head, "I'm in need of some privacy," said Guan, "unless of course any of you wants to do something with me in the forest." Azula shivered in disgust before saying, "Go on, far enough for us not to smell anything then." That on mind, Guan walked away.  
In the forest, there were many sights, and with so many trees, it's unbelievably hard to navigate, but not for Guan. Thanks to the training his master gave him since the day he was three, he's been able to jump higher and higher until he could jump as high as almost twenty-five feet into the air and land as light as a feather on his toes without any kind of damage thanks to a liniment given before his balance training—that's a common training method among the Shadowbenders: the trainee, from a young age, is weighed down with rocks proportionate in weight to their age and body type on their arms, legs, and back, and the weight increasing as time goes by. If it were to sum up with his training up to this point, he's been training for almost thirteen years of his life, the weight of the rocks stopped increasing at age 16, when they weighed a total of 900 lb today, and as such, he can lift about 112.5 lb on each limb, and the other 450 lb goes to his back, thus giving him the ability to strike hard and fast so that he delivers about as much, if not twice as much, force as a wrecking ball, and giving his firebending shots about as much force as a shotgun.  
Listening in on the air as he leapt through the trees quickly, but silently, he heard the faint sound of a guzheng playing—Rin was nearby…he immediately moved on forward, listening as the song got louder and louder until he finally found Rin, sitting down with the man-sized zither at her lap, playing music by plucking its strings. "Sorry about the bat," said Guan, looking downwards at his colleague, who in turn looked up at him, "like I said, the cat and the mouse were gone, so there was nothing else for me to use." "Then improvise!" said Rin angrily, "For me, hypnotizing birds comes easily to me, so I can use any bird as long as it fits with the current environment. Besides, the inner circle wanted me to convey a message to you."  
"A message? What'd they say?"  
"They've a mission for you, when you've the opportunity. We're all moving out to make an attack on the Fire Nation, and cripple its military force. We won't hit any civilian homes—just barracks, government buildings, and any place where it would be very demoralizing to them to lose. What we want you to do when you have the opportunity, is to draw a map for us so that we know where the aforementioned places are."  
"I might not be able to do that. They'll suspect something if I wander about—I'll try to look for a cartographic studio first, see if they have any maps of those places."  
"Is it because of that little girl I've seen you speaking with in the garden?"  
"Why do you care? We're only colleagues remember? That's what you told me when I confessed of my feelings to you when I was new."  
Rin sighed, and said, "Forget about it then. I just don't want you to be hurt, that's all. It's just that every time I look at you, I see my kid brother. I still see you as him—you're his spitting image if he were here today."  
Guan looked at her with a look of question on his face, and finally said, "What happened to your brother anyway?"  
"It was a famine at the time in my childhood in the outskirts of the Fire Nation. My father sold me off to work at the age of six to put food on the table. At that time, mom was pregnant with a kid, and lo and behold, my little brother came into the world. Back then, my parents could not afford to raise an extra mouth, so they chose to give the baby to a woman who would take him elsewhere. I don't know what happened to him though, as I was then taken in by the organization to put the Fire Nation back in its place at that time."  
Guan simply sighed, and said, "What a tragedy…to have this happen to your brother…but then again, it was a tough time, so the parents of that child should already have been forgiven. If the child had died, then there's no doubt that it alleviated him of future sufferings—if he had lived, then may he live a long life. I'll do the mission when I have the chance." At that, Guan simply left in a flash.  
Rin watched him jump away, and began to reminisce…among the Shadowbenders, she was the best of the best—she is under the warrior-class, and her specialty lay in assassination, and liberating towns of their soldiers single-handedly. Until that fateful day, she was the top of her class—earning candidacy for becoming a member of the elites. At that time, there was a mission in the Earth Kingdom, and she was posted for it, but the inner circle chose to make some new guy do the job instead of her…

Three or four years ago…

"They said to watch over that boy," said the inner circle representative, "he's a fledgling, so make sure he's able to fly on his own, and report to us on how well he does." "Why am I stuck with this job?" asked Rin in frustration, "They all know I can take this mission on my own, so why do they need this new guy?"  
"He's doing this job as his first; a final exam to be accepted into the guild before the initiation ceremony if you will, which is why you need to watch him. He seems to have a lot of potential, and we want to see how he does in using it. Besides, it'll be your practice for being a teacher."  
The sound of a flute playing could easily be heard as it got louder and louder, nearing the current location in the bamboo forest. A member of the guild walked on in, playing a flute under the basket on his head, playing a continuous tone that made it sound like the prayer hymn of a farmer. Upon his arrival, he stopped playing, and bowed low before the representative and Rin. "My name is Guan Liu Zhang," he said, "it's an honor." As she looked upon this freshman, she had the feeling that they know each other. That was odd…why would she know of any freshmen? She simply gave a long sigh, and said, "Whatever, I'm taking you with me. You'd better not drag me down."

She couldn't believe it! As she walked towards the same spot in the bamboo forest, she began to ponder as to how this freshman had liberated an entire town of its Fire Nation guards? Just who was this warrior? "Surprised?" asked the representative, playing his three-stringed san xian lute, and his basket having no holes on it—only a slit for the eyes, "I wouldn't be, especially for his background." "What are you talking about?" she asked, "What's in his background that you wouldn't be surprised about?"  
As he spoke, the representative was walking down memory lane, "I remember once of a story you told me long ago when I first found you. About a famine, and how a child was given away by your family to a woman. Well we found out what happened to that baby—apparently, the woman was caught in the middle of a robbery, some thieves mistook what she carried to be a statuette of gold, so she ran until she found a shrine, and hid the youngster there before she immediately died from her wounds. The thieves were about to take the bundle, but Guan the Hermit immediately landed in, and scared off the thieves after beating the stuffing out of them. Since then, he raised the boy our way until the day of his death, when the boy turned 16."

Present-day

Since then, Rin had been keeping a close eye on that guy. Learning his end of the story, she came to realize the familiarity she felt around him was because of that reason. It is an undeniable fact that her brother is among the circles, no matter how surprising it is—especially for being someone who can match up to her level easily… "You think we'll be able to pull this off?" asked a voice from behind her, it was none other than the same representative who had brought Guan to her. "He should at least be able to do it Bai," said Rin, "I've seen him grow these past few years. Now all we have to do is to hope he finds us a map. If not, then we'll proceed as planned anyway."  
"Yeah, and what was it again? We assault the Fire Nation city he's in, and set fire to all its government and military buildings anyway?"  
"Yeah."  
"And what of your kid brother?"  
"Let's just hope he gets out of this okay—he's the only family I have left, even if I have to keep him in the dark of my true identity…I'll send a pigeon to the inner circle, inform them that the mission has been accepted."  
"Please do."

The next morning…

Guan sat around in the lake…it's lonely on his side of the boulder, but for a good reason—the others were taking their bath in the same lake, and so it would be appropriate to not be there. The cold water had cooled his travel-heated body, relaxing his burn scars in the shape of words all over his torso, and alleviated his clothes of the smell of sweat. Now that everything was all good and well, he can relax and sleep a bit in a reclined position. Although, he couldn't help but feel like he was being watched back there. Yeah right, as if something like that would happen…but still, he couldn't shake the feeling that someone had followed him all the way to see Rin. Well in either case, he'd best wait for his clothes to air-dry…wait a minute, clothes? As he turned his head around, he had suddenly realized the horrible truth—his clothes have been stolen from the clothesline he had set up, minus the jock strap he has on. As he noticed this, he immediately heard the sound of galloping ostrich-horses. Oh no…they decided to play a trick on him…at least he torched his spy garb and his demon mask and kept his Shadowbender garb before leaving. Now he has to get his court official's clothes back—he'll need them if he'll want to keep his disguise…

That ostrich-horse was very fast, no wonder Azula had chosen him. Oh well, his court official's clothes were dirty, including his hat, but at least he managed to get them back. However, as soon as he got halfway back to the camp, he heard a provocative whistle and giggling. "What's the matter? Aren't you cold?" asked Azula, with Ty Lee laughing with her, "Aren't you ashamed that you're naked? Have you no modesty?" "Honestly," said Ty Lee, still unable to contain her laughter, "I've heard of being proud of yourself, but this is ridiculous!" Of the four ladies, only Kai and Mai did not laugh—Mai, even more so because she did not seem interested, but Kai did that on her own, trying her best not to laugh.  
Ah well, better bite the bullet, and laugh with…so Guan forced a smile, and said, "That's right, I'm ashamed…and I have not a modest bone in my body. So sue me—I can't do anything at this point. I mean, look what you've done to my court official's clothes. They're ruined…I'm afraid I'll be naked the rest of the trip until we get to a camping point—unless of course you'd like to see me in the au natural."  
Azula heard those words from his mouth, and immediately shot a bolt of lightning at his head, only to watch as he bent his back backwards, thus dodging the shot to his head, and then she shot another bolt of lightning at the ostrich-horse's feet, causing him to topple over face-down. The Azula, moved her ostrich-horse such that its feet were near his head, and said, "Not so wise are you now wise guy? Do that again, and I'll brand you a traitor and kill you. Are we clear?" Guan coughed a bit, but managed to say, "Crystal."  
He then got up, dusted himself, and moved towards his bag, and found his black court official's garb while everyone else had galloped off. The only person to remain was Kai, who was watching him intently. He then put the dust-covered court official's clothes in the bag neatly. "Shouldn't you be catching up with her heinous?" he asked, putting on his coat, and then his pants. "I would," she said, "but now, only her friends can help calm her down. Besides, as hard as I tried not to laugh, the least I could have done was to protect you. Actually, your whole body kind of looked…well, I don't know…not what I really expected of a scholar. But then again, you did need to pay for those classes by being a farmer and a hunter, so that would make sense."  
Guan looked at her with a look of surprise, but finally said, as he tucked his coat into his pants, "Uh, thanks I guess…but still, how can Ozai do that? It's actually just plain pathetic to raise a kid like that, I mean how can he spoil her like that? Once in a while is fine, not too much punishment, but not too much spoiling either—do it in moderation. But to spoil her all her life?" "I know," she said, "I wouldn't want to live her life—too much confinement you know? Doesn't suit a wilderness girl like me at all."  
"So, aside from spying, do you have any other hobbies?"  
"Nah, I just like to eavesdrop every once in a while. What about you? Aside from music, what else do you do for fun?"  
As he continued, Guan got on his ostrich-horse, and both started to catch up, "Oh nothing much, either admiring scenery, drinking rice wine with a partner, calligraphy, or the tea ceremony. A lot of times, I miss the simplicity of being in the mountains, but I don't take anything for granted."  
"You have any friends outside of being a scholar?"  
"Ah, not too many. Just a classmate or two in my music class."  
"You keep in touch with any?"  
"One in particular. In fact, once in a while, she and I would collaborate—she'd play a guzheng, and I'd be playing the flute. We were like brother and sister, very close, much to the point that I decided to ask her out on a date. She turned me down, once saying that she was really happy with only being a colleague in music with me, nothing more. From that point on, we kept our relationship as close to the brother-sister status as we could possible."  
"Did you ever see her again?"  
"Once in a while I would run into her in the past—and I'd recognize her by the notes she played on her guzheng, really slow and melancholy. In fact, maybe one of these days, I can ask her to play for you if I run into her, and we'll play a piece for you."  
"That'd be lovely."  
Before long, the sound of an attack had filled the air as everybody stopped their steeds, and watch as brigands descended from the trees, weapons pointed at everyone. "All right now," said one brigand, armed with a spear, "you wenches of the Fire Nation aren't going to go home without something bad happening to you. So either you give us all your money and valuables, and your bodies, or we…"  
Before he could finish anything, the brigand's head was blown off with a bolt of lightning, and then the rest of them were seared off by shots of blue fire. Before long, the whole forest was crawling with brigands, closing in slowly. Next thing everybody knew, a member of the brigands was thrown at his comrades, and Guan was nowhere to be seen. Everybody turned and looked around, as even Azula was mystified by his disappearance. The silence was broken when something hit a nearby tree, and the sound of thuds and startled cries of pain filled the air. As soon as the noise had subsided, everyone fell down, stunned by sharp blows to the head, and finally the object lost its momentum, and dropped to the floor…it was only a round and thumb-sized stone that ricocheted off the trees and the brigand's heads, completely stunning them.  
Azula was about to shoot flares at the downed men, but something flew from the left to distract her from landing the killing blow—it was a smooth stone this time, this one was as small as a marble, and it hit her on the left wrist to get her attention. As soon as she turned her head, she watched as Guan stepped out from behind a tree, and revealed his presence. Azula galloped her ostrich-horse towards him, and gave him a kick to the cheek using the momentum of the gallop only to watch as he caught her left foot with his right hand in a squeezing kind of grip. "I've been told to expect this," he said, "and although I know it's disrespectful, but don't we have somewhere we have to be now?" "What are you getting at?" asked Azula, "And who are you to try and best me eh?"  
"It's just natural hunter's instincts. It's also tactical assertion from being a hunter. And as to my point, the longer we dawdle here, the more time the Avatar has to get away, so aren't we in a rush to chase him? If so, then what are we doing here wasting our time and energy on bandit trash?"  
Azula looked back at his grayish-green eyes with the golden colors of hers as Ty Lee gave out the 'busted' whoop. They were near the consistency of jade, but she could clearly see the defiance in them now. She wouldn't give up—as she continued to look into his eyes, she saw a will stronger than steel, a strength that would not falter, and in them, she saw the soul of someone to respect. She won't accept the fact that this guy is somehow superior to her, she won't respect him no matter how much she feels it towards him, and she most definitely will continue to try and break that will and make him suffer. No, she'll just lay low for now—the battle of wills is over in a stalemate.  
"Feh!" she said, with spite in her voice, "Who wants to kill some weakling brigands anyway?" As she said that, she turned her ostrich-horse, and galloped away, leaving Mai and Ty Lee with the hung jaws of surprise—this was a guy who actually stood up to Azula, not to mention telling her off. Kai was even more surprised—this was the guy she really liked, and he was able to apparently scare off Azula, a task she thought impossible. Maybe there's more to him than meets the eye…

Finally. They've made it to their destination. The land of Satori is one of the big cities in the mainland well known for having the most military outposts in the Fire Nation mainland empire. It is because the territory that Satori occupies is quite large and is strategically important for the Fire Nation's economy and the delivery of food, supplies, and equipment because it is situated near a beach, the military outposts double as police stations for the different districts of the land.  
Looking down the marketplace, he noted that everyone made way only for Azula and then began to go about business as normal. Watching on, Guan could see the damage that Firelord Ozai and had wrought upon the balance that he as a Shadowbender so nobly protects. Even worse, he rallies his people into frenzy—if anything, Iroh should have been the one to take the throne, or anyone not in their bloodline for that matter. Ah well, better keep an eye out for the cartographic studio.  
The horizon had many views, but one had caught his attention as they moved on. They were approaching a very large building complex. It was the typical design for most palaces, but what distinguished it the most was its height and its near-gothic design where everything pointed to the top. The keep was by far the tallest part of this castle, with a long beam on top of the roof, ended in two tall spikes pointing towards the heavens. Surrounding the keep was a lake, which would be a last line of defense should the castle walls and the gate be breached. Yes, this would probably be suited to being a summer home to her heinous, thanks to daddy-dearest. There should indeed be a room filled with maps here, particularly for the mission.  
It took a good half-hour to get there, but Azula and the other four members of her retinue managed to get to the exquisitely designed throne room. "Since that fiasco in the woods, I think I have a new use for you Guan," said Azula, "I've decided to promote you to the level of an advisor. In honor of your new post, you can take the night off for tonight." Guan looked surprised at this, and bowed on his knees to Azula before getting back up and saying, "Your majesty, that would be an honor for me, to serve as your advisor."  
"Also know that I've decided to assign Kai to your service. I'm sure she'll work really hard for you, am I right?"  
"Yes ma'am," said Kai, smiling widely, "I'll work hard."  
"Good, then you may leave, but I'd like for Kai to stay behind a bit…"  
"Sure thing." Upon saying that, Guan turned and left, leaving Kai behind for the evil princess to have a word with her. As soon as he was out of earshot, Kai moved on in upon being beckoned for listening to the whispers.  
"Keep a good eye on him. Report to me if he does anything out of the ordinary. I have a suspicion that he's the spy from that night that knocked you out. If you find something odd, then tell me everything you can about him—who he really is, who he works for, what he's doing in my service, everything. Got it?"  
Kai said nothing; she only nodded reluctantly and turned to look for Guan. For refusing Princess Azula is about the same as asking for death.

Going into his chambers, Guan had finally found the opportunity to write back to Rin. Especially since he found a gray cat on his bed, with a note tied to her neck. This was the cat he sent to watch over the white mouse a few days ago. He immediately opened the note, and it read, "Many of us are already in the city, if you find a map of the entire Fire Nation, we'll wait longer so that you can bring us the map—try to make sure it comes to us in one piece. Either way, we're going to torch the city's military and government buildings, we've been traversing the sewers pouring a trail of gunpowder towards the aforementioned targets, they await my orders to light the trails. Report if you find the cartograph room, and we'll give you some time to steal a map, and bring it to us. P.S. if you send another bat or a rat, you're dead meat!!!"  
Guan immediately torched the note with blue flames, went to the desk, and began to write, "Rin, if you get this message, meet me in the city—I need to make it believable that you're my colleague for disguise purposes. You don't need to do much we're just going to compose something. If that's okay with you, then send me a message as to when and where we meet." Once he finished writing his letter, he rolled it up, tied it to the cat's neck, and sent her out into the balcony.  
"Go back to her," he whispered, "make sure she gets this note. Do it carefully—eat the scroll if you're found." At that, the cat immediately landed from balcony to balcony into the blackness of the night…


	4. The Crippling of Satori

The Crippling of Satori  
"I'm glad I finally found the time to actually meet you on your vacation time," said Kai, "normally, you're usually too busy to see me. Well, now we have a chance to get to know each other a little better." "I hear you," said Guan as he sat around on his side of the fountain, "Azula's been working me to the bone lately. But now I think I have the chance for a breather. The city's nice…very befitting of a port city actually."  
"Guan, not to pry or anything, but how'd you get those burn marks all over your torso?"  
"My master was actually the kind to want to do something ritualistic—he made sure that on my way out of that cave, I'd remember a philosophic scripture or two…" His thoughts became pensive as to the past. He remembered the day he was officially initiated into the guild.

A little while after the success of his first mission, he was walked down stone stairs to the secret underground sanctum shirtless with a group of nine female elites in cloaks to begin the official initiation somewhere in the Earth Kingdom. It was a hidden temple where its construction was started before the Fire Nation's invasion, and finished fifty years into it, with a hall in which twelve statues of meditating giants, sitting down cross-legged, with looks of concentration on their faces sat along the walls of the hall facing each other until it got to a set of steps leading to a large circular chamber. The chamber itself, and the whole sanctum for that matter, glowed a baby blue color due to the fact that it was naturally carved out of the cave walls, and at the end of the chamber was a statue larger than the giants lining the halls, facing directly towards the entrance and the exit to the sanctum. Right in the middle of the chamber was a naturally formed, shallow pool of water surrounded by the eight symbols of the bagua (eight trigram emblem) carved around the rim of the pool that moved away from it enough that the large statue sat on an empty ring outside the trigrams. Directly in the middle of the end of each trigram was a pair of tall candlesticks and an incense urn arranged in an equilateral triangle in which the urn was placed towards the direction of the pool.  
Once everyone made it to the chamber, Guan stepped into the shallow pool and sat directly in the middle of it in meditation. As he did that, eight of the elites took a spot on the bagua, while the ninth stood in front of the giant. "Let the ceremony begin!" she said, and everyone lit their candles, and an incense stick, and then sat down cross-legged after unraveling themselves to be dressed in loose clothes befitting of priestesses. The ninth woman revealed herself to be Rin, who then proceeded with the ritual by bringing out a kunai knife, and then breathing fire on it to make cut burn marks all over his torso. Once she finished, the words were written in kanji, and then cauterized by the heat of the knife—it was a good thing that the incense sticks emitted a painkilling effect upon Guan, or else he would have felt something extremely painful.  
As soon as she was done writing, the whole thing read in the Chinese style in the front from the left side of his chest; "The words of the great master says that all suffering in life is based upon selfish desire, only by attaining true enlightenment and practicing moderation of such desires will one be free of such sufferings. Also remember that all things with form eventually die, but in time, a new life will begin for them." The right side of his chest continued on, skipping the direct center of the rib cage, "To attain enlightenment, to attain freedom from suffering, is to attain the highest state of mind in the body—it is the time when you finally find a truth of life. To practice moderation is to simply know your limits—an excess of spiritual desire can cause one to forget to live their own lives, and an excess of luxurious desire can cause one to forget morality. Living with a balance between both is a road towards enlightenment." The words on his back read, "To live life without regret is to follow these guidelines; do not do the unnecessary, there is no such thing as a trifling matter when it comes to listening, seek out the balance in your life, do good things, do not what you wouldn't want done unto yourself, recompense injury with kindness, do not celebrate the failure others or parade your merits, and be as learned in as many arts as possible."  
Once done, everyone hurried towards him with bandages, and carried him away from the pool. As soon as Rin was done carving the words on his body, she simply put out the lights, and allowed the sweet-smelling incense sticks to burn out. After today, until he leaves the guild for good, there is no turning back. These scars will remind him of his allegiance, and to remind him of the code he chose to live by…

"But seriously," said Guan, "these scars are to remind me of what I should be doing—how I should be living my life without any regret." "That had to hurt," said Kai, "so, forgive me if I'm off topic, but why are we out here?"  
"You know that colleague of mine I told you about? Well it seems that she's in town today. So, I asked her if she and I could compose. She agreed, and said she can meet us here at the fountain."  
"And compose we shall Guan," said a woman behind the fountain. As she walked out from behind the fountain, she revealed her appearance—she appeared to be about 25, was dressed in yellow robes, and wore a square-topped hat. Her whole appearance was almost like Guan, only much more feminine, and her skin was a few shades darker. Hung around her shoulder was a man-sized guzheng made of cherry wood, and having 21 strings, each one made of finely spun double-woven silk.  
"Rin, it's been a while," said Guan, "how have you been? Ah, what's wrong with me…Kai, this is Rin, my colleague from music school. Rin, this is Kai, Azula's personal spy and thief." "It's an honor," said Kai, "Likewise," answered Rin, "Guan, you said you wanted to compose?"  
Guan simply took out his flute, and said, "Ah yes, let's play that one song with the prince on a quest shall we?"  
Rin then sat down, put the guzheng on her lap, and said, "Ooh, yes, let's play that one!"  
Once both were ready, Guan with his hands readying the flute, and Rin putting her hands to the guzheng. Rin began the song with her usual melancholy sound, as the story was told through the musical notes:

Once there was a prince who started off content with his life, and his future to become the king. He had everything due in part to his status as a heroic kind of a prince—wealth, fame, and power. But one day, he came to realize that something was missing in his life. He went to his priests to help him find out what was missing, none have succeeded in telling him of what was missing.

Guan chimed in with his flute to continue the story:

After the failure of so many priests in an attempt to find out what was missing in his life, the prince began a crusade to find the solution to his bewilderment. Among his travels, he continued to find things he had never seen before, things he had never experienced. But despite experiencing all the things he had been missing out on, the prince was still bewildered—what was it that he was missing in his life?

The tone of the song began to become more upbeat at this point, as it had begun to conclude:

One day, during his travels, the prince had run into a woman. She was in danger from a group of bandits who tried to rob her. The prince jumped in and rescued her from danger, and then something had happened to him upon seeing her up close. His heart had frozen, his hands were shaking, everything he said began to turn into a stutter, and upon getting close enough to the peasant girl, it could be seen easily that he was blushing. At that moment, the prince finally found what he was looking for—his bewilderment had come to an end. He had finally come to realize that in his travels, he had finally found what he was looking for: love.

"That was extremely beautiful," said Kai, clapping, "you are both professionals at this if I had ever met any." "Thanks Kai," said Guan, "but in this, we're not composing simply for the artistic value, we're doing it as a means of contemplation. In other words, when we want to think, we play music." "We've also been taught that our instruments are our lives," continued Rin, "as they take wear and tear from time, it's the same as breaking our lives down with sin. With enough sin, you can destroy your life. But when your life has been destroyed by sin, don't just sit around; pick up the pieces you have left of your life, and start anew, and don't do what you've done to destroy your life again."  
"Wise words—it has a lot of truth to it. Oh my, it's late, we'd better go."  
"Let us meet again one day. But before we go, I'd like a private word with Guan."  
"Very well then, but remember, we have to be back at the palace in about five, ten minutes so that we can avoid the curfew penalty. Since a spy was listening in on the princess' conversation with Long Feng, and he successfully escaped, she doesn't want to lose trace of him. There's a possibility that he's here in the city—but that's only a possibility. That in mind, you can have your personal time."  
Watching Kai leave around the corner was the signal to begin speaking, and in whispers for Rin. "She's actually quite a nice girl," she said, quietly, "and preferably, I'd marry her too if I were a guy. But we both know why we can't do that." "I know," Guan whispered back, "because when you marry among our guild you are dismissed from active duty within the guild. The ones dismissed by marriage are still members; it's just that they can't participate in missions anymore."  
"I really hope that this ends soon too. But knowing the stubbornness of this nation's leader, that's a tall order—but we've got to carry on anyway. If we don't, then all is lost. By the way, have you found a map or a studio yet?"  
"I've come across her majesty's war room. It has a map of all the territories the Fire Nation had conquered and initially owned on it. We may need to take advantage of the mayhem in order to steal or even copy it, but in order to make things less suspicious, bring out the cartographers with photographic memory we've got in case the thieves won't be able to do the job. When will the attack take place?"  
"Everyone is ready to attack at any time. Our thieves and cartographers among us will be at your disposal—they'll report to you tomorrow. Meanwhile, we'll begin the attack, creating chaos so that you have time to get the map. If it's all right with you, then we are clear: we attack tomorrow!"

The next night…

Guan sat at his desk, calmly reading a scroll on philosophical thinking until he heard a bang from behind him as the door was kicked down. He turned around to see Fire Nation soldiers flooding the doorway. The commander then stepped up, and said, "Guan Liu Zhang, by the order of Princess Azula, you are to be executed on the spot for the high crime of treason!"  
Before there was any response from the Fire Nation soldiers, Guan picked up the desk from behind him, and threw it at the Fire Nation soldiers, causing them to be knocked by the impact, and then they watched as something impossible happened: Guan began to breathe black fire at the soldiers, causing them all to run away in fear, as the darker color the fire is, the hotter it is. He had been compromised, and now he had to improvise—he had to assume that the cartographers and the thieves have been captured by now, so he'll have to go this alone. He also had to assume that everyone else was captured, so he'll have to take into account of his priorities—his first job is to take the map of the Fire Nation's turf, and keep it in one piece.  
Suddenly, he heard an explosion—it had begun. As the sound of explosions continued to sound off, Guan knew that his mission had truly begun. Cartographers and thieves, or none, he'll have to do this. He then began to walk out with his flute in hand. Looking up and down the hall, he saw Fire Nation soldiers charging in on him with spears, dao, and jian in hand…

Earlier…

Soldiers surrounded Rin and the escorts she had prepared on all sides. They had one job to do, and that was to light the trail of gunpowder started in the well no matter the cost. Rin and her colleagues had successfully snuck their way to this well, and they've come too far to fail now…she simply put down her guzheng, slid the bottom cover open to take out a palm-sized ceramic jar with a cork top, popped the cork, breathed fire at the top causing it to be set alight, and then dropped it into the well. Upon hearing a crash, and a slight trace of hissing, she pulled out a sheathed jian from her guzheng, and unsheathed it, swinging it in a graceful manner; her colleagues did the same with their instruments, revealing their hidden weapons. As soon as the first explosion sounded off, that was the beginning, as many members of the Shadowbenders dressed in Fire Nation civilian garb had flooded out of alleys and some out of houses to attack all the emerging Fire Nation soldiers, some armed and some unarmed, effectively fighting them all off until they are all stunned or TKO…

Back in Azula's palace…  
Guan had defeated all of the rabble in the hallway. In the process of defeating all the soldiers, he managed to get his hands on one soldier's katana, and he had proceeded to take down the rest of the Fire Nation soldiers that had crowded in the hallway, stunning everyone with his many single-hit cuts. After he had slashed his last opponent to stun him, he sheathed his sword in the samurai-style as his opponent's wound opened, and fell to the ground slowly. Knowing the location of the war room, he immediately ran there to try and get his hands on it before it was too late. He immediately ran into the middle of the archives, and breathed black fire on the ground to cause the stone to melt a man-sized hole in the ground. When the hole was in its desired diameter, Guan jumped into it to see a horrifying scene—his mission had failed! Azula sat at the head seat, smiling at him evilly from across the long table with the map in flames behind her.  
"I've been expecting you traitor!" she said, "But then again, I should have expected that from a spy to begin with. Your mission for this map of the Fire Nation has now been for nothing, but since you're here, I think I should entertain my treacherous guest, what do you think?"  
"I've no time for you," said Guan, "and besides, the map was only a means of getting an advantage. The real target was hitting your military and government buildings now, and crippling your ability to pursue the Avatar by sabotaging your mechanized vehicles, making your steeds sick, stunning and or knocking out most your troopers by injury, and the most regrettable hit of all (or at least to me) is burning all of your rice wine. We're just here to weaken you a bit with those destroyed building. In other words, our job is already done, and whether I failed or not is a moot point, and so fighting you now is pointless—I have nothing to gain from it."  
Azula was angry at those words, and said, "Oh you will now if you want to live!" Once she said it, she fired a bolt of lightning at Guan who seemed to vanish in a blur, and then counterattack by landing an uppercut to her solar plexus with his left hand, and then performing a knock-out hand chop with the outwards motion of his right hand to the back of her neck, knocking her out. He then picked up her unconscious body, and put it outside of the now blazing war room. "Rest assured," he said, "we'll probably fight again, just not anytime soon." At that, he walked away from Azula, and left the palace with his backpack containing his rosary, his basket, and his normal Shadowbender garb…

An hour later…

Guan sat down on the branches of a tall tree, he still had his gourd of rice wine from a while ago, and he was drinking it in one gulp from a wine cup he swiped from a bar on his way out of Satori, watching as smoke rose from the wine production factories. As he sat there, Rin landed from out of nowhere, and sat down next to him. "You fail your mission?" she asked, "Yeah," he answered, "Azula set fire to the map before I could even get to it. When I got there, it was already completely engulfed in flame. Wine?"  
Rin accepted the extra cup he had in his sleeve, as he poured it full, drinking hers in one gulp. "Well, we may not have a map, but at least we did the real job here. It's going to be hard, knowing that the Fire Nation burns all maps that are outside the military buildings, but we still have skilled cartographers all over, we can send them to survey the lands, and make separate maps. Cheer up, we may get another chance." Upon finishing her second cup of wine, Rin gave her cup back to Guan as well as his ringed staff, and vanished into the night with the guzheng hung on her back.  
Guan simply watched as his sister-figure disappeared into the midnight sky. Knowing that this was his cue to leave as well, he put the cup in his jacket, and let himself drop to the ground, light as a feather. "I knew the spy showed extreme expertise in the martial arts and firebending from what I've seen and heard," said a voice from behind him, turning out to be Kai, "and judging from what I've seen you do up until today, I'd say that Azula was not paranoid in suspecting that you were the spy—especially with the short fight between you and Azula."  
Guan's voice was calm—he knew something screwed up his mission, and now he knew why, but he asked anyway, "How did you figure?"  
Kai sighed as she continued to say, "I kind of added it all up. Two weeks after you were given the position of a court official, a spy comes along in a demonic outfit listening in on the princess' conversations with Long Feng—I should have seen that one coming. The next morning, I actually believed you when you said that it was hunter's reflexes for the first time, but a while after that, I figured that if you could stand up to Azula, and knock out a gang of brigands with a single stone, you were not simply a nobody hunter. In between those times, I followed you quietly through the trees on your so-called 'restroom break' and overheard your mission from Rin.  
"The burned words on your body may or may not be believable as per your alibi there—the words on your back seemed more like a code for a club more than anything. I also overheard your status on your mission with Rin, whom I recognized by her scent from the last time I saw her—being raised by big cats in the wilderness has heightened my senses, so I can hear whispers from more than a few feet away, and recognize people's scents. It then hit me at that point in figuring out that you were in fact the spy—I didn't know what else to do, so I told her about what I had heard—I didn't tell anyone else because I doubted anyone would believe me. Can I ask you something?"  
"Shoot."  
"Is anything between us actually true?"  
Guan sighed, hurt by her words, and said, "Some of my lies were based upon truth, but the feelings between you and me were real. I really do love you, even now I forgive you simply for being human and betraying me out of confusion—you were torn between your loyalties to Azula and I…you were only loyal to Azula out of survival, but you were loyal to me because you loved me, and even now, I can see in your eyes that you still love me. I would have left my guild to be with you, I even considered marrying you, and telling you the whole truth about myself, but it can't happen. Not now at least, and it's all because of the evil that the Fire Nation had wrought upon the land—all the chaos, all the imbalance. I promise you this, and I swear this oath, that when this is over, when the balance has been restored to this land, whenever that happens, there will be hope for you and me, as I will find you, and we will be together from that point on, and I promise, to never deceive you again. This, I swear. Farewell, for now…"  
Kai was stunned after hearing this speech—she was touched by his confession to having the same feelings she has for him all this time. She only stood there, watching as he kicked off quickly, thus vanishing in a blur. There was no sign of deception in his voice at all…only sincerity, and hope for their relationship to finally come to be a stable one. As she watched into the horizon, she finally knew what to do to start off…she simply made a break for it into the forest, never to be seen in civilization again…


	5. Epilogue

It's been nearly a few years now, but the deed has been done. The Avatar had defeated Firelord Ozai, and so now he is free to marry. Guan may finally be free from this life, settle down, get a legitimate job, and start a family. As he sprung through the treetops, he remembered that day when the city of Satori had its entire militia crippled from pursuing the Avatar and starting another attack; it was that day that he parted with the one woman that he had fallen in love with, and had loved him back. As he found the tree he was sitting at last, he remembered the sight of flames he had seen on that day—the government buildings burning, some of the military offices were still exploding, and many of the taverns and the rice wine stores collapsed to the weakened foundations from the fires. From here, he was sitting there, drinking rice wine, and he was watching the city getting crippled. As he had told Princess Azula before knocking her out, the stats were not wrong; the real mission was a success as many of the steeds in the stables were given food poisoning to prevent them from giving chase, all the vehicles were sabotaged or destroyed, the targets were most definitely destroyed, and well over 80% of the troops were injured so that they could not serve in the military—in other words, at the time it was a job well done. Now, Satori was barely rebuilding itself to its former glory—at this point, it was only halfway done.  
After that moment of reminiscing, Guan set his mind back to the task at hand. Before he left on his journey to find Kai, he had asked the inner circle for permission to leave the guild to start a family. Because the war with the Fire Nation was already over, they saw no problem in the decision. Guan got his permission, and so he set out to find Kai to ask her hand in marriage. It's almost been a year since the war's been over, and it's been nearly three years since he last saw her. All this time, he had no other woman in his mind, aside from Rin who had revealed herself to be his older sister and sending him off with her blessings. As soon as he landed, he simply touched the ground softly, and walked back into the forest, following what he believed to be the footsteps of Kai…

He had combed the forest for hours now, and still no luck, but he would not give up. Searching more into the woods, he found something interesting…a person had been watching him as he had been moving on into the woods, hiding behind the trees. He could not tell who it was as the person was dressed in large robes, and the face was covered by a hood. However, judging by the uncovered hands, this person has a very fragile build—almost lady-like. The stalker noted that he was found out, and turned immediately to run away, losing Guan in the middle of the forest.  
Once he found himself in a clearing, Guan had to stop for a bit to figure out his next move. He then noted that the stalker had landed right behind him. "This part of the Fire Nation is off-limits to both native and foreigner alike," said the stalker, with a feminine voice, "you'd do well to leave now." As Guan looked on at the stalker through his basket, he observed that the voice had felt familiar.  
"If it's a threat you're trying to make," said Guan, "then it's not working. Especially since I can assess that you won't fare very well in a fight."  
"Explain yourself."  
"Your body may be covered in heavy cloth, but I can tell by your aura. You have massive potential to defeat the opponent, but you have neither the talent nor the training to use it. I can also tell by your abnormally high body heat that you are a Firebender, probably the type that specializes in throwing flames, but you can also do a bit of instinctual brawling if need be."  
"Who are you that claims to know so much about me?"  
"You tell me. Myself, I'm but a simple musician, barely traveling to make ends meet for myself, meditating with my music."  
Under the hood, the stalker looked at him suspiciously, finally realizing that she had heard that voice before, "Take off that basket."  
"Only if you'll take off that hood."  
"Fine then."  
Guan simply took off his basket, revealing his true face and his hair. The stalker looked in amazement, and then she slowly tugged at the hood, and started pulling it off. She then revealed herself to be the one girl he had been looking for the past year, the one he fell in love with…Kai; but her hair was now longer, and a tad more unkempt from living in the wilderness, and her whole physique suggested that she had matured over the past few years in this place, as evidenced by all the muscles she had been getting and the other things a woman had to go through. She looked into his jade eyes with her violet ones. This was the man she had been waiting for all this time—her true love, Guan Liu Zhang had returned to this spot, just as she had.  
"Been a long time hasn't it Kai?"  
"It sure has. I'm sorry about turning on you like that, but back then, when I found out that you were the spy, I chose not to say anything until that time because I loved you..."  
"No worries—if it was you that did it, then I would have forgiven you, no matter what you did because I also love you, and I understood that it was for your own survival. It really hurt though, but I'm usually the kind to forgive."  
"What are you doing here anyway?"  
"The war is over, remember? Since the war is over, things are a little more carefree for us again in the guild. So how have you been lately?"  
"Just fine, aside from the fact that I've missed you all these years. After that day when Satori was crippled, I ran into these woods, and stayed hidden from civilization—I grew up in these woods like these, so it was a survival instinct for me. All that time, I've wanted to hide away from Azula—I just wanted to be free from everything, and I've also wanted to see you again someday."  
"Kai, I know this is sudden, but I have a question for you."  
"Yes Guan?"  
"Will you marry me?"  
Kai was surprised when she looked on at Guan with a blush; she remained silent for a few minutes until she finally uttered, "Marry you?"  
"The guild knows that I asked this, and so I have their permission to ask this of you. I don't know much at all about you, and much of what I've told you about myself had been lies based upon truth. If you give me the chance, I will become honest with you, no matter how long it takes to earn your trust, and to learn more about you. I will vow never to leave you as long as we are wed."  
Seeing the sincerity in his eyes, she could not help but to smile tearfully…

One week later…somewhere in the Earth Kingdom

"Where are we going?" asked Kai, walking with Guan down the road towards a lake overlooking a hilltop, both dressed in formal attire, "A secret place for my guild," said Guan, "even the Fire Nation is unable to track it. Once in a while, at night, we come to this place to perform different rituals; this includes full initiation into the guild. Aside from this place, we don't have any formal places to meet to perform our rituals seeing as our meeting places usually vary, but on big occasions such as being initiated into the elites, then you most likely want to come here to perform the ritual. Ah, we're here!"  
Once they stopped, they saw what appeared to be a boxed shrine with an incense urn in front of a marble statue of a meditating bodhisattva sitting on a lotus, surrounded by children. Guan took out a stick of incense from his sleeve, and lit it, placing it into the urn, and knelt down to pray. As soon as he was done praying, the shrine slid aside, revealing a ladder going into a man-sized hole in the ground.  
The couple went down the ladder while the shrine covered the hole as soon as they were both climbing down, and followed the crystal-lit path down into the hall towards an entrance. "Follow me, only members know of this shortcut," said Guan, "because from here on in, there's a labyrinth laced with booby traps and tripwires. One wrong move and you're never walking out of there alive—you'll either get lost in it for life or you'll eventually hit a trap." "Why the tightened security at this point?" asked Kai, curious for the answer.  
Guan found and opened the secret passageway in the wall, beckoned Kai in, and said as he closed the door behind them, "For these three reasons: one; you do not want to be disturbed while a ceremony is taking place in your honor, two; this is sacred ground to us (no defilers allowed), and most important reason of all: this is where we store all the treasure we rob from corrupt governments so that we can finance rebellions. However, we don't finance just anybody—you must have a good cause to start a rebellion, and you must prove it before we finance your rebellion, and if you don't have a good reason, we kill the leaders of the rebel faction in question."  
At that, Kai knew her question was answered. These people are all against corruption that they'll kill to even the scales and rid the world of it. They seem that much convicted in their cause. Before she could say anything, they had reached their destination. Guan turned a rock, and another secret passage slid open. This time, it revealed a pair of gigantic double-doors with rounded studs that totaled for about 81 bumps arranged in the shape of a square and rings for doorknockers and handles for opening the doors. Guan picked up a ring, and banged it against the metal backing, making three knocking sounds.  
The door opened, and the couple was walked down a flight of hand-carved stone steps into a cyan-lit hallway. Kai noted the statues of the twelve giant monks sitting in meditation lining the walls of this hall. From what she could assess, these monks were stalactites at one point, carved by artisans of the guild to the point of professional quality. Once they made it to the end of the hall, she saw that those statues were nothing in size compared to the gigantic one before them, sitting on top of a base cross-legged, with one hand against his body with the palm to the sky, and the other hand had the pinky and third fingers clutched into a fist while the other fingers and the thumb were held up above the palm against the body. At the base, it read, "All life shall eventually perish into nothingness, and all that perishes into nothingness will eventually give birth to life. That is the ultimate truth of the world. –The Great Master" In the middle of the chamber was a shallow pool of water surrounded by a bagua carved into the ground around it, and members of the guild were in attendance. In the middle of the pool was a wooden table with two brushes, a large and beautifully made scroll a pair of ink stones with ink already ground into it, and two rice wine shots. Guan and Kai stopped in front of the table, and waiting behind the table was a Shadowbender dressed in the garb of a priest.  
"Members of the guild," called the priest, "we are gathered here tonight to witness the union of two lovers; lovers, who have been separated by the curse of life known as war. Yet, despite that curse, both have found each other, and loved each other despite being on opposite sides of the fence. To that circumstance, I say that you two are the luckiest people I've ever met. With that on mind, let the wedding ritual begin! The groom and the bride must both write something they've learned about life on the scroll provided, and then sign their names afterwards."  
Guan picked up his brush, and started to write, "Life is like the instrument of the mendicant musician; it has its purpose in life as well as its potential. As the instrument gets damaged, it will eventually become destroyed by its own sins. When that happens, the musician simply picks up the pieces of his instrument, and starts all over again. –Guan Liu Zhang"  
Kai struggled a bit with her handwriting, but she managed to get it down, "Life has its ups and its downs—bad things can happen to good people and vice-versa, or it can be the other way around. The only thing one can do in this always-alternating current of good and bad is simply to prepare for whatever life throws at you and to avoid the same mistakes that have been made. –Kai"  
Once both signed, the priest said, "These words that you have written are proof that you two are truly wed. You may drink the wine, and the groom may kiss the bride." With that, Guan and Kai picked up the wine shots opposite of each other's sides, crossed elbows to drink the wine, and then embraced each other…


	6. IMPORTANT!

**Greetings to the fine folk that moderate our site.**

**Myself, along with many, have been writing and posting on your fine site for years now, some of the better examples of up and coming writers out there are now suddenly finding some of the stories we've come to love at risk of being removed without the chance to even rectify our errors.**

**For some, that means the permanent loss of a story. While I don't have anything that I believe violates your terms of use, there are those out there that are never able to recover a story in its original form, this is something I find to be almost worthy of a legal action, as while we cannot claim ownership of a character, the stories are OURS and simply destroying them is something that is inexcusable.**

**It's quite easy to simply add an MA rating, additional filters or even a simple requirement for a free membership to read the stories presented here, and would cut down on hateful anonymous reviews and posts at the same time, so I have to question as to why such a thing, in all this time, simply wasn't added.**

**If you're worried about falsification of a registration then have an appropriate disclaimer and then there can be no dispute, you took your steps and the PARENTS didn't monitor their children, if that is even your concern. If it is more of a personal view or desire then please at least let people know and give them a chance to remove a story that you and yours find offensive, most people on the site are actually rather cordial when it comes to such requests.**

**While I cannot say for sure if this letter will even reach those that may be willing to listen, of if it's more akin to a wide spectrum purge in preparation for something bigger, please understand that you are going to be looseing a LARGE number of your writers, and thus your income from a lack of readers if there is not some level of action taken to help with this situation.**

**For those that may agree with this, please feel free to sign on and send this to the support server, maybe we can get some movement on this.**

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